Well, I finished the book this afternoon! It took me a while to get into it, because I have trouble dealing with stupid and Lisa was being very naive and stupid when she went to visit Mrs. Morgan. She had several other instances of being stupid, but with the addition of the other characters I was able to get past it. I should have expected this problem when reading the other books in the series, because Lisa was always mooning about some romance book or the other. She wasn't very based in reality. I guess I had kind of hoped that after seeing the problems that her sisters experienced that she would have been more grounded.

However, even though I'm not thrilled with Lisa as a heroine, I loved the story. I agree with Wren that I wasn't sure who the bad guy was until the end.

The one thing I really loved about the book was the repeat of the sneak peek of the new Argeneau story. I can't wait until Christian's story. I loved the scene when Christian throws back the problems his father had when wooing Marguerite and the stunned comments from his cousins about not knowing the full story of that courtship! I can't wait to see how that part of the story progresses!

I understand, Sue. I felt that way when, even after all the trouble, she took of by herself to try and see the Runner. I guess that was just part of her character, almost TSTL. Not my favorite type of characters but I did enjoy the story. I liked how Richard and Daniel set him up to be her watchdog. What wonderful friends.

I must respectfully disagree, Sue & Denise! Lisa is one of my favorite characters, and is not at all stupid!

Lisa may have been a little dreamy & naive in the first two books, as she was younger and a romantic pining for Robert, but she was never, ever stupid nor was she weak. I think a better word for Lisa is "impulsive," and all three of the Madison sisters had a tendency to be impulsive. That is what made the books so very funny.

Also, this trilogy is a Regency romance, and women in that era had to use a lot of strategy to be strong and independent. Those young ladies of the Ton or the Gentry were purposely kept as sheltered as possible, and they were literally property of their fathers and then their husbands. It was difficult to be much more strong & independent than the Christiana, Suzette, and Lisa Madison...the Regency is my favorite era, and I've read a lot of bestselling authors who write mostly about that time period, and the Madison sisters fit the sub-genre! If a young lady had lost her father or was unmarried, and she had no male relative or older established female relative that would help her, she often ended up as prey for those such as Mrs. Morgan. For those in service, such as Lisa's maid, it really could be a lot worse, as they often had no one to turn to for help. With discretion, wealthy widows gained a bit of independence, but they still were not equal to men in the eyes of society, as they could not hold titles or entailed properties or vote or have other privileges, other than as the trustee/caregiver of an heir and any other children from their marriage.

Lisa had no reason to suspect Mrs. Morgan of being anything other than what she had presented herself to be...a rather lonely & risque widow whose carriage had broken down in travel close to where she lived in the country. That ability to present herself as someone other than a brothel owner is what made Mrs. Morgan such a good villain, and since Lisa had never seen her except in the country, she had no reason to doubt that Mrs. Morgan wasn't just as she said, which is why it came as a total shock! Think about it...if Mrs. Morgan had come across as what she really was to young ladies, she wouldn't have been able to get away with her "sordid business" at all, and Mrs. Morgan had an additional reason to fool Lisa, since she had a hidden agenda. Lisa may not have had any further contact with Mrs. Morgan if the true villain had not paid her to obtain Lisa, other than she wanted to take a gift to someone she considered to be a friend when the invitation to visit came. Since she was now in the city, Lisa could buy the lurid, Gothic romance novels that were so popular for herself. However, Lisa showed tremendous courage & ingenuity when she & her maid were captured, and used her head to get her maid out of the room and send her to the right person for help!

There is a great deal of difference between strong, independent heroines of the Regency or any other historical period compared & contrasted with those of contemporary times. When we read the Argeneau series, we are reading about the Immortals living in contemporary times, and all the historical details are told to us through their memories or when they explain to their new life mates about where they came from or their lives over the centuries. For example, remember what Lissianna told Greg when they were looking in the portrait gallery of Marguerite's home at the painting of her that Jean Claude had commissioned...even if JC had not been as he was, she did not have the freedom in that era that she enjoyed in modern times about 200 years later. Lynsay has been a master at showing us the historical lives of the Immortals through details such as this small passage, or even an entire book made up of showing us the memories to unravel what happened in Marguerite's life. Another difference between the historical novels and the paranormal novels is the fact that the Immortals have those nifty little gifts of "mind-control" and "mind-reading"...not something available to our standard historical heroes or heroines! Like us, they have to rely on regular mortal gifts, as they don't have access to the nanos!

I find Lisa to be dreamy, but with an enormous amount of common sense. Jewelz and I both think she is a lot like Luna Lovegood in the Harry Potter books...courageous, beautiful, dreamy, yet extremely intelligent with a great deal of common sense, though she comes across as flaky much of the time, which is very misleading and causes others to underestimate her.

My point is that none of the Madison sisters are stupid. Though they make their share of human mistakes, especially due to being so impulsive, (again, which is why Lisa took off so quickly to go to the runner, forgetting to get the people who were supposed to go with her) they just work within the time period in which they live! Though Robert almost needed a little cast-iron cauldron knocked upside his head for being stubborn, then he couldn't have realized what was right in front of him...and I enjoyed how Lynsay let his two best friends leave him to deal with Lisa & find out the truth about his feelings! {sigh} I love a great "happily-ever-after!"

I absolutely loved The Husband Hunt, and found it to be an excellent ending to the trilogy! Though I suspected the villain from the beginning, Lynsay's red herrings had me constantly questioning who it would turn out to be, and then how he would meet his fate when his evil nature was revealed!

As sin said to me when we chatted about how much we liked it, she expected a disclaimer at the end, "No animals were harmed in the writing of this book!" Kudos to Lynsay for another well-written story!

I completely enjoyed the book except for that one instance. I remember thinking to myself at the time "You've got to be kidding?" I'll never be able to excuse or explain away that one, nor do I want to. Lynsay is such a great writer that, even though I may not agree with a decision a character makes, I still enjoy her books. There are only a handful of writers that I can say that about.

I find Lisa to be dreamy, but with an enormous amount of common sense. Jewelz and I both think she is a lot like Luna Lovegood in the Harry Potter books...courageous, beautiful, dreamy, yet extremely intelligent with a great deal of common sense, though she comes across as flaky much of the time, which is very misleading and causes others to underestimate her. (from wrens above post)

Well helllo sister's of the forum. I hope your all doing well. I absolutely loved this book! Nice job Lynsay!!! It was a real page turner. She always seems to keep me guessing with regards to the plot and villan. Lynsay's books rock!!! Its why I keep coming back. I've been busy, so sadly its been in my TBR pile along with many other new releases. My only regret is not reading it sooner. I love Lisa's personality. She's much like Luna Lovegood, beautiful and dreamy, but astute. Luna is my favorite HP character. You learn much more about her through the books verses the movies. Like Luna, Lisa is a unique. Gotta love her for that! Husband Hunt was my favorite of the three books.

Love is like a butterfly, it goes where it please's, and please's where it goes.

Gotta say in the beginning reading the book was a slow process. Why? Simply because the only "Historical" kind of book I've read is After Midnight, a vampire one and it's been nearly a decade now since. That said, I absolutely loved this book and the humor in it. There were a lot of times I was going "it's this guy" then "no, it's him" finally onto "darn it, who is it" only to have my first hunch be right. Go figure, huh?

Needless to say, I can't wait to read more of her other works. Sadly I just have The Countess, The Perfect Wife, The Key, and The Deed left on my shelf... the others being a "need to buy" kinda thing. Still, gonna be happy reading before I most likely plow through the Argeneau series again since I just read About a Vampire two days ago roughly, maybe three. I'm in book heaven right now so... recalling the days passed isn't my strong suit. I'll be around though. c:

susan60625 wrote:Yes, The Husband Hunt was excellent. It was also the third book in The Madison Sisters series. The first two are The Countess and The Heiress.

The Perfect Wife is a stand-alone.

The Deed and The Key are the first two books in another series. The third book in that series is The Switch.

Yeah, I learned that after reading The Husband Hunt first and was like "wait a sec..." grabbed up The Countess from my bookcase and read the back summary thinking "darn it" because I try to read things all together in order. Been that way since, well, ever. I don't like to read books out of order... but I have limited of her work outside of the Argeneau series. I think, until I can order the other books, I may put it on hold and re-read the Argeneau series.

Still, I loved The Husband Hunt even though I read it out of order. Just means I get to read it a second time through once I've purchased and have The Heiress arrive. c:

Though I'm glad to hear The Perfect Wife is a stand-alone book and that The Deed and The Key are the first two for that series. One down side to shopping used bookstores is not knowing the order of books when you've bought them.

Still, even if I accidentally spoiled a little by reading out of order I'll be reading the other two when I can.